County of building: Saint Charles County
Location of structure: N 5th St., 3rd house S of Adams St, W side, St. Charles
Built: 1907
Architect: Unknown
Architectural Style: Colonial Revival
Original Occupant: Owen, Virgil A. and Martha E.
Map
"64. 317 North Fifth Street; Colonial Revival; circa 1907; Contributing
This 2-story, frame Colonial Revival house has a coursed rusticated limestone foundation. The medium pitched hip roof has intersecting cross gables on the front and south slopes, wide enclosed overhanging
eaves, a full entablature and 2 interior end chimneys (1brick and 1 metal) on the north slope. The narrow clapboard siding has mitered corners and the base of the wall is flared or bellcast above the wooden water table. The south end of the 2-bay façade holds a wood door with oval light and an 8-light wood storm door and to the north is a wide 1/1 wood window. In the upper story are two 1/1 wood windows
and the windows and door have slightly eared surrounds with molded caps. The door opens onto a fullwidth gallery that has stone foundation piers in-filled with framed lattice panels, a wooden stairway and deck, and a balustrade with turned balusters. The gallery’s high hip roof is trimmed with an entablature with denticulated frieze and it is supported by Doric columns that rest on pedestals clad with narrow weatherboard siding. The bases of the pedestals are flared, like the walls of the house. The columns are
in groups of 3 at each corner and paired on the north side of the stairway, and half-columns or pilasters on pedestals are arranged singly against the wall. The pedimented gable end has a tripartite window with a band of 3 single-light windows and the tympanum is clad with wood shingles.
a. Garage; circa 1923; Contributing
The front-gabled, 1-story, 1-car frame garage has a front (west) wall of narrow clapboard siding and side walls of board-and-batten siding. The overhead door is fiberglass and on the north elevation is a 6/6
wood window. On the south elevation is a shed-roofed section that has narrow clapboard siding on the front and board-and-batten siding on the south wall. It has a 2-light window on the west façade. The
garage was built circa 1923, and the shed-roof portion may be the remnants of the earlier stable." ~ NRHP Nomination Form
"Built 1907 ca.
Style/Design: Colonial Revival
Although the County Parcels Database gives the date of construction as 1903, this large Colonial Revival house was not listed in the 1906 directory. It was listed in the 1908-09 city directory, so it appears that it was built between 1906 and 1909. It was initially listed as a multifamily dwelling, probably the home of Virgil A. and Martha E. Owen since they were identified as the homeowners in the directory. Virgil was a carpenter. Also listed in the directory that year was Mae E. Owen, identified simply as a resident. Three employees of the Roberts Johnson & Rand building were also listed at this address: Samuel Freymuth (identified as a boarder), Edward Rothermich (identified as a resident) and Raymond C. Rothermich (also identified as a resident). By the next time that the directory was published in 1910, the only listing was for Virgil A. Owen. Then in 1916-17, the listing changed to F. J. Bernhoester (later listed as Frank J. Bernhoester), who remained in the house at least through 1961 when research ended. The 1906 directory is the only listing that showed multiple occupants in the house, so it is likely the house was really designed as a single family residence that took in boarders initially.
"This large, two story, hipped roof, frame building has Colonial Revival detailing concentrated on the full width front porch, although
the pedimented gable end with its shingle siding of the slightly projecting cross gabled bay on the north two-thirds of the façade is also a common element on early Colonial Revival houses. The roof has wide, enclosed eaves, now clad with vinyl, but the house
retains its original clapboard siding with mitered corners. The windows also show some Colonial Revival influence; most are 1/1
wood sashed windows with crowned cap lintels. The pedimented gable end has a tripartite wood framed window with three single
light windows. There is a 1/1 wood sashed window in each of the two bay façade openings, both levels, except for the entry, which
has an oval light wood door. The full width porch has a hipped roof with an entablature and dentil course under the eaves. There
are paired Doric columns at the corners and off-center to define the entry bay as well as single Doric pilasters against the house,
all resting on clapboard clad plinth blocks. Directly below, there are rusticated stone piers. The porch floor is wood as are the
steps. It has spindle balusters on the rails that appear original. There is another cross gabled bay on the south elevation, also
with the same shingle siding pediment and tripartite window, but this bay is canted, with 1/1 wood sashed windows on each facet.
There are incised, curved brackets under the corners of the eaves where the bay is cutaway. On the rear, the one story porch
appears to be a later addition surrounding the original porch given the shed roof extension below the original hipped porch roof.
The one story porch is shown as much smaller on the fire insurance map. There are two chimneys, one metal (non-historic) and
one brick, both along the north elevation. There is a 3/1 window on the south elevation, east end and it is unclear whether this is
original or a later replacement.
"The garage facing the alley is an enigma. There was originally a two story stable with one story wings on either side. Between
1917 and 1929, the north wing was removed and the south wing was identified as a garage on the fire insurance maps while the
stable identification was removed from the central, two story section. Today, there is an old gable end, frame garage with an alley
wall of the same clapboard as the main house and a side wall of board and batten siding. It has a 6/6 wood window on the north
elevation which appears original, but the fiberglass overhead door is a replacement. The design of the garage makes it appear to
be as old as the other garages in this block that were built between 1917 and 1929, but the fire insurance map shows that this
portion of the lot had been cleared of the north wing during that time and the garage built or converted on the south side of the
stable. The position of the slightly shed roofed section built to the south side of this garage is positioned where the two story
stable section had been located and its odd construction may indicate that it is the remnants of this two story structure. It too has
clapboard siding on the alley elevation and board and batten siding on the south wall. It has a two light window on the alley with a
small shed roof on knee braces built half-way up the wall to cover the trash cans. What was identified on the fire insurance maps
as the garage, south of the old stable is now a paved parking pad. Either the fire insurance map misidentified which wing of the
stable was rebuilt as a garage (north rather than south) between 1917 and 1929, or this garage was built after 1947. Because of
the construction techniques and materials, it appears the fire insurance map was in error and this is a 1917-29 era new garage
with the remnants of the stable attached. This is a contributing building in the historic district." ~ St. Charles Historic Survey Phase I, PDF pages 696-700